If somebody mentions Cardiff Bay the things that immediately
pop into my mind are Dr. Who, Welsh Assembly, Millennium Centre and the barrage
(if the weather is nice). In fact the Bay is one of my favourite parts of Cardiff and
I wanted to show our students at least some of this interesting part of the
city.
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| Listening to the history of Welsh democracy |
It was a nice day, well it wasn’t rainy so we can say the
weather was good. We managed to escape the rugby fever in the city centre (Wales
vs Fiji) and head off to the Bay – thanks to Gianni for the fashion show in the
fluffy sheep hat (rugby accessory!).
Our first stop in Cardiff Bay was the Welsh Assembly where
we had a tour from an experienced guide and friend of the school, Gareth. He
showed us the main chamber and explained everything about the Welsh parliament
and the history of democracy. The chamber was a big hit with the students, ‘beautiful’
according to Hamza.
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| The whole group together |
Gareth also told us some interesting facts about the petition
system in Wales. For instance, did you know that you need only ten signatures if
you want your petition to be discussed in the parliament? And you don’t even
need to be Welsh. Quite interesting, isn’t it?
In my opinion the best part of the whole Assembly is the new
style of architecture. All the pieces of the building, the facade, the interior,
windows and even the heating system were designed so that the whole building is sustainable
(environmentally friendly).
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| Selfie has to be |
After the tour in Senedd we carried on with our trip and
visited Pier head, a big terracotta building that used to be an administrative
office for the Port of Cardiff. Now the building is used to reflect Welsh
culture and is a key venue for live discussion. Our students and I watched a short
video about the history of Cardiff Bay and the docks which is free for all
visitors.
Please trust me, I know this weather
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| Watching video about Cardiff bay |
Some of our students are keen walkers, so a part of our plan
was a short walk down the barrage. As I mentioned before, the weather was
good but foggy and blustery, no rain. The weather situation on the barrage is usually
very different but that didn’t stop us attempting the walk. However, as you
pass the Dr. Who experience centre and the skate park, the weather changes and
is very windy and cold. Some students and I decided to go back to the Norwegian
church and have lunch, but our tough
Italian and Arabic men decided that they wanted to walk further and see the end
of the barrage. As I predicted, they came back a bit later and joined us in
the Norwegian church saying: It was very nice, but it was very, very windy.
Well, I know what I am talking about.
During our break in the Norwegian church we had time to
discuss some cultural differences, mainly on the topics of husbands and
boyfriends! We had the opportunity to talk about travelling, studying and we couldn’t
forget about the lifestyle of Welsh people.
Who is the best bowling "teacher"?
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| Our Italians |
After the break and a reunion with our “weatherproof”
students we went for our afternoon activity– bowling. Divided into two
teams we started the game. For some of us it was our first game ever,
but because one of our Italians is a very good teacher; everybody
got the basics pretty quickly. And also I can’t forget our great
supporter – our Libyan
student’s son who was cheering every time someone scored. :)
Some of the students were very good and some of them were
very strong. They
threw
the bowling ball with such power that we thought we would
never see either the bowling ball or the skittles again! Obviously our
Italian bowling “teacher” was the best player and after couple of
selfies and team pictures we decided to go back to the city centre,
where we had
the opportunity to discuss the Christmas decorations, learned a couple
of new
words (dwarf, gnome, reindeer) and went to watch the rugby match.
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| Bowling team n. 1 |
I think that everybody enjoyed the trip and found something
interesting, we got to know each other better and had a really nice time.
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| Bowling team n. 2 |
Please join us on December 13th for our student
Christmas Day with Tristan! More information coming soon. All welcome.
Peartree Languages is a language school located in Cardiff.
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